Analysis
4/30/23
9 min read
2023 NFL Draft: 5 Biggest Day 3 Winners
With Day 3 of the 2023 NFL Draft in the books and a flurry of undrafted free agents already being signed, it's time to take a deep dive into the teams that came away from the draft's final day as major winners.
Biggest Day 1 Winners
Biggest Day 2 Winners
Indianapolis Colts
Nobody had a better final day of the draft than Indianapolis Colts GM Chris Ballard. Few scouting staffs in the league roll up their sleeves each year at the Senior Bowl like Ballard’s crew and all that work paid off in a big way.
The Colts took six consecutive players who participated at Mobile to start off the fourth and fifth rounds — BYU OT Blake Freeland (scouting report), Northwestern DT Adetomiwa Adebawore (scouting report), South Carolina CB Darius Rush (scouting report), California DB Daniel Scott (scouting report), Miami TE Will Mallory (scouting report), and Northwestern RB Evan Hull (scouting report). The common thread among all these Senior Bowlers is that all of them had high-end athletic traits for their respective positions and many draft projections had the first three (Freeland, Adebawore, and Rush) getting picked on Day 2.
Freeland has the highest vertical jump (37.5 inches) of any OL in combine history. Adebawore ran a 4.49-second 40 at 282 pounds. Rush ran 4.36 at the combine and was the fastest player on GPS at the Senior Bowl. Scott tested as the most explosive safety in this year’s class. Mallory was the fastest tight end at the combine (4.54). Hull posted some of the top marks across the board for a running back.
Ballard set the franchise on a new course on the draft's opening night by taking Florida QB Anthony Richardson (scouting report) at No. 4 overall, and on Day 3 he built a young nucleus of athletes whose best football is still ahead of them. It will probably take two to three years for this group to ascend but Colts fans have plenty of reason to be excited about the direction of the team after this draft.
Seattle Seahawks
The Seattle Seahawks absolutely nailed the 2022 draft, in large part because they stuck to their guns and took players who fit their competitive culture. For the second straight year, they attacked the draft looking for their kinds of guys, players with juice, and came away with a group who should help them challenge the San Francisco 49ers for the NFC West title.
John Schneider needed to find some big guys on both sides of the ball, and he did that with his first four picks of the day. After passing on Minnesota’s John Michael Schmitz (scouting report) in the second round, Schneider was fortunate that Michigan center Olu Oluwatimi (scouting report) was there in the fifth. Oluwatimi is a player who out-performed my expectations during Senior Bowl week and it would not be surprising if he locked down the starting center job as a rookie.
Mississippi State NT Cam Young (scouting report), another Senior Bowl alum, and Michigan DT Mike Morris (scouting report), who many projected to be a Top-100 pick, will provide immediate rotational depth on the D-Line.
Perhaps our favorite value pick in the entire draft was Schneider stealing Georgia RB Kenny McIntosh (scouting report) in the seventh round. McIntosh was our highest-graded senior running back, ahead of UCLA’s Zac Charbonnet (scouting report), whom the Seahawks took five rounds earlier. While his subpar combine and pro day workouts caused him to slide, McIntosh is a dynamic runner and receiver when you put on the tape, and he is talented enough to have a role next year in Seattle’s suddenly crowded running back room.
Houston Texans
While there wasn’t anything flashy about it, the Houston Texans continued to build their roster with a bunch of good solid football players.
For the second straight year, GM Nick Caserio and righthand man James Liipfert took productive guys with high football character. That is the blueprint and credit them for sticking to it. Third-rounder Juice Scruggs (Penn State) could help immediately at either guard or center and so could sixth-round Notre Dame product Jarrett Patterson (scouting report). Both of these offensive line picks fit the smart, tough, competitive and dependable linemen profile that Caserio brought with him from the Patriots.
The Texans found good value throughout Day 3, especially getting instinctive Alabama MLB Henry To’oTo’o (scouting report) in the fifth round. We thought To’oTo’o would go in the third round, especially after he ran a faster-than-expected low-4.6 time at the combine. Our sources in Tuscaloosa say To’oTo’o is the smartest linebacker and best on-field communicator they’ve had in years, and new Texans coach DeMeco Ryans, a former Tide all-timer, must be excited about getting an NFL-ready defensive signal-caller.
Iowa State WR Xavier Hutchinson (scouting report), a Biletnikoff finalist last year, was also a good late-round value in the sixth. Hutchinson has the tools and skills to become a dependable possession option for new QB C.J. Stroud (scouting report).
New Orleans Saints
The New Orleans Saints had a few players earmarked after the conclusion of Day 2 and credit them for aggressively trading up to land them. Saints GM Mickey Loomis and ace personnel man Jeff Ireland got to work early on Saturday by executing a trade to acquire the first pick on Day 3, and they used it to snag underrated Old Dominion OL Nick Saldiveri (scouting report).
Based on what we were hearing the past month on calls around the league, we thought Saldiveri was going on Day 2. They must’ve been hearing the same thing and felt Saldiveri was worth giving up draft capital to trade up for. Few teams in the league have drafted as well on the O-line in recent years as the Saints and Saldiveri projects as a four-position player (all except LT). He got plenty of reps at guard and center during Senior Bowl week and we feel his best long-term position could be center.
They also traded fourth-year TE Adam Trautman and picks to the Broncos to move up in the sixth and take Wake Forest wide receiver A.T. Perry (scouting report), who was a good value pick where they got him since he was projected to go a little earlier in the day.
We’ve buried the lede here because the pick that landed them on this winners list was getting Fresno State QB Jake Haener (scouting report) at pick No. 127 in the fourth round. Haener, who was this year’s Senior Bowl game MVP, will have at least one developmental year under fellow Fresno State alum Derek Carr and there’s a chance he could be the Saints’ quarterback of the future. We’ll stop way short of saying he’s the next Drew Brees but there are certainly similarities when it comes to physical traits and play styles. If there was any Day 3 quarterback who has a chance to become a legitimate frontline starter in the league it’s Haener.
Chicago Bears
In his second draft, GM Ryan Poles quickly is earning an identity as someone who values high football character and high-end athletic traits. Those two things were the consistent themes regardless of position on Day 3, starting with Texas RB Roschon Johnson (scouting report).
Going back to our Senior Bowl roster selection process last November, we have heard plenty of second- and third-round grades on Johnson, so getting Bijan Robinson’s talented backup in Round 4 was good value.
Another fourth-rounder, Cincinnati WR Tyler Scott (scouting report), is another guy we were getting mostly Day 2 feedback on. Oregon LB Noah Sewell (scouting report) is an enigmatic player who’s always been a little overrated in the media but getting him in the fifth round makes good sense.
Another fifth-rounder, Minnesota CB Terrell Smith (scouting report), can absolutely fly and has a chance to contribute immediately as a perimeter core special teams player. Our Senior Bowl scouting staff liked Smith, but he fell right below the cut line for an invite this year.
The key thing with Poles’ strategy is when you combine physical talent with a strong work ethic and passion for football the chances of hitting on late-round picks should greatly increase. Obviously, only time will tell but we like the work that Poles and assistant GM Ian Cunningham did on Day 3.
Before taking over as executive director of the Reese's Senior Bowl in 2018, Jim Nagy was an NFL scout for nearly two decades, having worked for five teams that won a combined four Super Bowls. Follow him on Twitter @JimNagy_SB.
